Comments for Bill Ward's Brickpile

Comment on Washing LEGO by Bill

Bill — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:33:13 +0000

Interesting idea … I wonder if you could get the same effect with baking soda?

Comment on Washing LEGO by James

James — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:08:28 +0000

A few years ago I acquired a small lego brick collection from my cousin. My aunt is a smoker and the bricks smelled awful. After doing the standard soap and water process twice they still stunk. I ended up putting them (dry) into a plastic storage bin sealed with plastic wrap. Of course I put a dozen scented dryer sheets inside the bins. After a 2 months I opened the bins up. Worked like a charm. The bricks do have a slight scent now. It’s pleasant. However, I think the next time I have to do this I will try unscented dryer sheets. They should absorb the stench of cigarette smoke. Hope this helps. Thanks for reading my comment.

Comment on Buying Bulk LEGO by Bill

Bill — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:15:59 +0000

No idea, sorry. That was probably a Master Model Builder event at a LEGO store. I haven’t seen the Ninjago one, but I’ve been involved in Yoda, Buzz Lightyear, and Pirate builds. Basically a Master Builder from LEGO makes a design using mostly 2×4 bricks, and then at the store they have kids create 8x16x4 scaled-up bricks and recreate the smaller model using those large bricks. Some of the detail parts come pre-assembled (and glued) from the Master Builder Shop. None of those are ever released to the public as instructions though. Your best bet is if some adult fan has made a design for one and is willing to share it, but I am not aware of any.

Comment on Buying Bulk LEGO by Mark Lawrence

Mark Lawrence — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:20:00 +0000

Where i can get a instruction to build a 2 feet size Minifigs, i saw pictures of this guy building the big Ninjago, and he got the small one on his hand…

Thanks…

Comment on Tolkien Old Boys Club by Bob

Bob — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:32:15 +0000

Until the second film there isn’t any real ‘action’ scenes that have women in them so I wouldn’t expect anything until the second round of sets. As for Arwen being in this first round…shes barely in the first film and was cut out of the second. The only real ‘main’ female character from the Fellowship that could make it into a minifig is Galadriel and I can’t actually think of a playset they could make to include her that would be bought by anyone other than collectors.

Comment on Tolkien Old Boys Club by Bill

Bill — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:58:30 +0000

Well hopefully it’s just a picture of the Fellowship, and not just all the minifigs in the sets… we’ll see what happens when the sets come out.

Comment on Tolkien Old Boys Club by Chris H.

Chris H. — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:56:52 +0000

I agree that having lady elf figs would be nice, but the group above is the Fellowship. You’d have to get Tolkien to rewrite the book to change that lineup. ;)

Comment on Big Yellow Taxi by Bill

Bill — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:06:07 +0000

Thanks!

Comment on Track Layout Geometry by Bill

Bill — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:05:17 +0000

I’m not sure which layout you’re talking about, but if you look carefully at the image it’s not hard to count the track segments yourself.

Comment on Track Layout Geometry by Mark Z

Mark Z — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:33:34 +0000

In the last layout by Bill before my post, can you please tell me how many of each track piece is required? I am VERY new to trains and will be getting my first one tomorrow.

Thanks!

Comment on Big Yellow Taxi by taxi cabs Oakland

taxi cabs Oakland — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:34:55 +0000

What a nice looking yellow taxi cab you have here. Joni Mitchell’s song as inspiration definitely made it bring out the best in you. There’s some serious work you put in here. Good job!

Comment on Fortnight of Friends – Day 12: City Park Café by Bill

Bill — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:54:34 +0000

Wow, I hadn’t seen that. What a mess….

Comment on Fortnight of Friends – Day 12: City Park Café by JJL

JJL — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:49:51 +0000

Yes, this set does reverse the awkward racial stereotyping of the previous sets. The only problem is, someone at TLG forgot to change the product blurb, which says “ANDREA works at the City Park Café and loves dishing out tasty treats, when she is not singing into her broom and daydreaming of her big performance.” That product description is now all over the Internet.

If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think TLG were TRYING to put every stereotype they could find in the Friends sets. It’s really bizarre, because as far as construction goes, the whole theme is pretty sweet. But in terms of gender perception and racial issues, it’s just one big, hot mess.

Comment on Fortnight of Friends – Day 14: Olivia’s House by Suzanne Eaton

Suzanne Eaton — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:08:25 +0000

This set was my fav. of the ones I’ve bought. I enjoyed building it. I too have an urge to buy more and expand the house. (Olivia needs room for her workshop!) Would have been cool if there was a small set for extra empty rooms, but I can understand why there’s not. I wonder if parts from the vet clinic could be used for this purpose…

I spoke with LEGO designer (and NELUG guy) Jamie Berard about the set. He was involved in the early design of this set and is responsible for the clever shower curtain. He said it originally used one more segment of garage door but in playtesting, the kids had a hard time getting the figure in and out of the shower. I thought that was interesting because when I built it I’d wished there was one more piece.

Thanks for writing your reviews. I enjoyed reading them.

Comment on Fortnight of Friends – Day 10: Olivia’s Tree House by Holly Ward

Holly Ward — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:18:22 +0000

The “barrel” is obviously a crow’s nest, like on a pirate ship. Maybe the ladder is blue to match it, I can’t be sure.

Comment on Fortnight of Friends – Day 13: Heartlake Vet by Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:22:21 +0000

I liked this set, but found that the furniture positioning didn’t make a whole lot of sense. The scale didn’t hold together well when left by the sink, so we moved it into the corner where the fishtank sits. The fishtank went next to the hedgehog bed. We put the cabinet with medical tools next to the examination table.

On the stable side, it’s difficult for the horse to fit in the tiny little fenced area. We replaced the baseplate with a 32×16, and put in more fence so that the horse could actually fit through the doorway.

This made it a lot easier for our 4-year-old to play without getting upset about breaking or being unable to reach the pieces.

Comment on About Me by Bill

Bill — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:19:17 +0000

Thanks for letting me know! To find all my articles about BayLUG, check this link:
http://www.brickpile.com/category/baylug/

Comment on About Me by YRG

YRG — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:07:49 +0000

Cool pictures! I didn’t even know there was a LEGO group in the Bay area. One of your pictures was used on Lifehacker:
http://lifehacker.com/5874630/how-can-i-make-sitting-through-a-meeting-less-boring

Congrats!

Comment on LEGO Links by Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:21:59 +0000

Bill, I have built a new site http://www.brickpicker.com which focuses on Lego collecting and current market values for sets.

Comment on Fortnight of Friends – Day 7: Emma’s Design Studio by Janey Red Brick

Janey Red Brick — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:52:35 +0000

Been loving the posts Bill! I built all mine in a rushed flurry of excitement the first day they came out, so its nice watching your review! Sadly the “no sticker” roll you are on, ends tomorrow with that convertible, but I agree, it is lovely having new printed parts, even if some arent that useful.